Latest United Nations News

UN decries torture, killing of Ukrainian and Russian POWs

Mar. 24, 2023 12:31 PM EDT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.N. human rights monitors have documented dozens of summary killings of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war, as well as other possible war crimes such as the use of torture, human shields and other abuses against POWs since Russia invaded its neighbor, according to a...

Many millions die without clean water or sanitation, UN says

Mar. 23, 2023 16:53 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A lack of drinking water and healthy sanitation infrastructure is dire around the world and getting worse, United Nations experts warned in a report issued Thursday. The report finds that many millions of the world’s 7.78 billion people don’t have enough...

'Appalling': Southern Africa counts toll of Cyclone Freddy

Mar. 23, 2023 11:35 AM EDT

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — The death toll from Tropical Cyclone Freddy, which ravaged Madagascar, Malawi and Mozambique over the past two months, now stands at more than 600 people, the World Health Organization said Thursday. Aid agencies are scrambling to meet the soaring...

Big jump in migrants crossing Panama's dangerous Darien Gap

Mar. 22, 2023 20:32 PM EDT

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Panama’s government said Wednesday that 50,000 migrants crossed the treacherous Darien Gap linking Colombia and Panama in the first two months of 2023, five times more than in the same period last year. For 2022 as a whole, a total of 250,000 migrants made the...

Palestinians and Israelis clash at UN over Netanyahu actions

Mar. 22, 2023 20:31 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Palestinians and Israel clashed over the future intentions of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far right-wing government at a U.N. Security Council meeting Wednesday, with the Palestinian U.N. ambassador pointing to an Israeli minister’s statement “denying our...

Yemen: Fighting kills 16, endangering peace efforts

Mar. 22, 2023 16:27 PM EDT

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Renewed fighting has erupted in central Yemen, killing at least 16 forces, security and health officials said Wednesday. The flare-up of violence comes after diplomats and leaders expressed new hope for peace efforts in the war-torn country in the days leading...

'Deeply troubling': UN rights chief on Uganda anti-gay bill

Mar. 22, 2023 15:33 PM EDT

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The United Nations rights chief on Wednesday urged Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to block an anti-LGBTQ bill that prescribes harsh penalties for some homosexual offenses, including death and life imprisonment. “The passing of this discriminatory bill...

UN chief urges 'game-changing' commitments on clean water

Mar. 22, 2023 14:32 PM EDT

UNITED NATION (AP) — The United Nations chief urged the first world conference on water in over 45 years on Wednesday to address the “21st century emergency” that is wasting the world’s most important resource and has left billions of people without clean water and basic sanitation. ...

A quarter of world population lacks safe drinking water: UN

Mar. 22, 2023 14:22 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — A report issued on the eve of the first major U.N. conference on water in over 45 years says 26% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe drinking water and 46% lacks access to basic sanitation. The U.N. World Water Development Report 2023,...

AP PHOTOS: World's water in focus as clean supplies squeezed

Mar. 22, 2023 08:13 AM EDT

It's one of the world's most vital resources. In Paraguay, a man displaced by a rising river hauls heavy buckets of it to his temporary home. In the Philippines, a girl uses a manual pump to get just enough to wash. In Haiti children fill large jugs of it in dwindling ravines. Water...